Time-lock indicator



T. C. ADAMS ET AL TIME LOCK INDICATOR June 28, 1927. 1,633,657

Filed se t. 27, 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 1- Tlmlnaw L. fldaqg; Harold fl. [lofts Edward 6.Lawrence June 28, 1927. 33,657

T. C. ADAMS ET AL TIME LOCK INDICATOR Filed Sept. 27, 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 15 7w Tb om as afloam Hera/d4 fi/p as E's warn Gian/farms 1, '3 June T. C. ADAMS ET AL 6 3 TIME Locx INDICATOR Filed Sept. 27, 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Edward 6 La rence' D Patented June 28, 1927.

UNITED STATES THOMAS c. ADAMS, nanorin A. Norris, AND EDWARD e. LAWRENCE, oniinNNnaroiiis} PATENTOFFICE,

'MINNEso'rA, ASSIGNORS T 0. B. MQCLINTOCK 00., A oonroRATIoN orJMINNEsorA.

TIME-LOCK Application filed September Our invention relates to time lock mechanism for bank vaults and the like, and provides a highly important improvement in the time-of-release indicating means thereof.

In the standard and all generally employed time lock mechanisms, there is provided a multiplicity of independently oper ated clocks or timed lock-releasing units, all of which are adapted to be set to release the lock mechanism at a predetermined time in advance, and the operation of any one 0 which, at the timerelease the flock mechanism,- irrespective of. failure of the intended operation of any one or. all ofthe other clocks. vision made for safety because of the very great difficulty in opening a vault door equipped with the time lock mechanism in case of failure of the mechanism to operate. It has, therefore, been quite common to employ as much as four independent lockreleasing clocks for the above purpose.

Hitherto, in connection with a group or plurality of lock-releasing clocks, all of which, of course, are located on the inner side of the vault, it has been proposed to provide on the exterior of the vault a plurality of time-of-release indicators, towit: one for each clock. It is, of course, the proper custom to set all of the clocks to open at the same time, varying usually from fifteen hours to about sixty-three hours, de-

pending upon whether or not the period of from one day to the other or from beginningvof another week, but such setting may, of course, be for shorter or longer periods of time. In any event, with the old arrangement above indicated, the several indicators must be observed and carefully prepared to get the exact time at which the vault will be unlocked. Sometimes by mistake and sometimes by malicious design, one of the clocks may be set to open the vault, say, within four hours, and the other clocks all set to open at the proper time, say twelve hours from the time of setting, and with the multiplicity of indicators, it is not always certain that the error or. incorrectsetting will be noted.

Our invention provides a common time-ofrelease indicator, -which will indicate the length of time, in advance of the time of reading, that the earliest acting clock is set to release the lock mechanism With this closing is a weeks end to the for which it is set, will This is a pro vault lock mechanism at common'indicator, therefore, only one reading will be necessary and theobserver will I know certainly just when or what length of time in advance of the time of reading or observing of the indicator the lock mechanism will be released and the vault opened or rendered capable of being opened. I

Our invention above generally outlined is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters indicate like partsf throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation with some parts broken away and with some parts sectioned, looking atthe front face of the lock-controlling clock mechanism and certain associated parts;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1, some parts being broken away and thetop' cover plate of the device being removed; i

Fig. 3 shows a part of a vault in vertical section, the door of the vault and certain of the elements of the lock mechanism and indicator applied to the vault door;

Fig. i is an edgeelevation showing parts of one of the clock mechanisms, some parts being removed; a

Fig. 5 is a section taken approximately on the line 5'5 of Fig. 3, showing the mechanism illustrated in Fig. 1, but looking at the same from theback or in a direction from In Fig. 3, the body of the vault or safe is the interior toward the exterior of the vault;

indicated by the numeral 9 and the safe door I is indicated by the numeral 10. The several clock mechanisms, of which, as shown, there are four, are located in independent compartments 11 of a box-like casing 12 shown as provided with a hinged front plate 13. So far as this invention is concerned, the clock mechanisms may be of any approved construction, and, as illustrated, are of a well-known commercial type,having the customary or well known connections, whereby each clock will independently release the the predetermined time in advance for which it has-been set.

f the parts of this clock, it is desirable for v the purposes of this case only to note the Mounted in the case 12 are quite large spur gears 22, and of which there is one for each clock mechanism. These gears 22 are independently driven from the respective clock mechanisms through spur gears v23, 23 and 23", which latter gear, as well as the gear 20, is secured on the spindle 16, so that the gears 22 and the dial 17 of a particular clock mechanism will be rotated in unison both in the setting action and in the clock-driven timed releasing actions.

Each of the four gears 22 carries a widefaced pinion 22 that meshes with rack teeth 24 of actuating bars 24: that are closely arranged side by side and are suitably guided for horizontal sliding movements in the easing 12. The gears 22 of the several clock mechanisms are set in slightly different vertical planes for proper engagement with the rack teeth 24* of the cooperating bars, and the said rack teeth of the several bars are in different positions longitudinally of the bars to adaptthemselves to the different positions of said gears, particularly Figs. 5 and The four bars 2 are provided with upstanding push lugs or projections 25, which, in the normal positions of the several bars and for all correspondingly set positions, are located side by side. These push lugs 25 work freely through a slot 26 in the top of the case 12.

Mounted on top of the case 12 is a rheostat comprising a fined coil 27 and a cooperating sliding contact 28 that is engageable with. the exterior of the coil. The movable contact 28 is rigidly but adjustably secured on a plunger 29 mounted to slide through guides 30 on the top of the case 12. At that end of the plunger that extends toward the upper ends of the push lugs 25, the

plunger 29 is provided with. a head 31 that.

stands in the path of movement of said lugs and with which all of the said lugs 25 are en ageable. A light coiled spring placed around the plunger and reacting against the head 31 and the adjacent guide 30, tends to hold the plunger and movable contact- 28- in the normal position best shown in Figs. 2

and 5. In Figs. 1 and 3, the numeral 33 iiichcates a flanged cover plate applied on the top of the casing 1-2 to enclose the rheostat above described.

The common indicator above referred. to-

is preferably a modified ammeter applied to the exterior of the vault door. The con- SlZlttCulOiIQf an arnmeter is: well known and, hence, of the parts thereof, it is only necessary for the purposes of this case to note the casing 34, the movable pointer 35, and a graduated dial 86, which latter, in this arrangement, is graduated to indirectly indicate resistance, but in notations that will indicate in hours and fractions thereof the period of time, in advance of the instant of reading, for which the earliest acting clock is set to release the clock mechanism.

Attention is now directed particularly to the eiagram view, Fig. 8, wherein the numeral 37 indicates a dry cell or battery and from which there is extended a main circuit including leads 38, the above noted rheostat coil 27, and two contacts 39 and 40, the former of which is on the door frame and the latter of which is carried by the door, and which contacts will he engaged when and only when the vault door is closed. The

Operatiow- By means of a suitable key applied to the stems 16, the several clocks may be set for a period of protection and to open at a. predetermined time in advance, varying at will from one hour or less up to seventytwo hours or more. To set the clocks, the clock stems 16 will be rotated in a clockwise direction, and with the gear arrangement described, the clock dial 17 and gears 22 and 22 will be rotated in the same direction, and such direction of rotation will move the co operating actuating bar or rack 24- from. the left toward the right in respect to Figs. 1, 2 and 8, or from the right toward the left in respect to the reverse view, Fig. 5. When all of the safe clocks are set for a seventytwo hour period of protection, the several bars 2 L will be retracted or set in the position shown in. Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and the driving lugs 25 of the several bars will then he transversely aligned.

stated, the spring 32, operating on the plunger 29, will set the movable rheostat contact 28 onv the coil 27 substantially inthe position indicated in Fig. 8. Thus it will be seen that the rheostat contact 28, under the action of the spring 32, will follow the driving lugs 25 to any position in which they may be set, providing, of course, that all are set in transverse alignment or, in other words, that the several clock mechanisms are all set for the same period of protection. If, however, one of the ClOC'iS should be set for a shorter period of pretee- Y Vi hen the said bars are retracted or set in the positions ust 'As the rheostat contact 28 is moved over a long coil 27, under the action described,

the resistance in the shunt circuit ii-aa progressively decreased, and as this resistance is decreased, the current flow through the modified ammeter 3% will increase and the pointer 35 will move from the sevent two mark toward the zero mark, with an accelerated speed indicated by the gradua-' tions on the dial, Figs. 6 and 8. This feature. whereby the pointer 35 will be given an accelerated movement, is incident to the structure of the modified ammeter 34 and the graduations of progressively increased spaces, presently to be described, are pro vided to meet this condition. The graduat-ions and numerals on the common indicator dial 36 of the modified ammeter, in cooperation with the pointer 85, indicate in hours and fractions the period of protection or the interval of time that must elapse be. tween the time of reading and the time of releasing of the lock mechanism. When the period of protection covers many hours, a very accurate reading is not as important as is the reading when the time of release is more closely approached, and hence the importance of the arrangement whereby the spaces of the graduations are increased toward the Zero mark and the pointer 35 is given a correspondingly increased acceleration in movement, so that the fractions of hours may be easily read as the zero point or time of release is approached.

It is now evident that, under the operation just described, any clock setfor a longer period of protection than the one clock assumed to be set for a short time of protection, would perform no function whatever so far as operating the time-of release indicator is concerned, but the releasing of the lock mechanism would be performed by the said clock set for the shortest period of protection, or, in other words, for the earliest lock-releasing action, and this earliest acting clock will be the one and only one thatwill operate the common time-of-release indicator.

The above described operation has assumed that, by action or design, one of the several clocks was set for a shorter period of protection or earlier time of lock-releasing action than the others, but, of'course, when all of the clocks are set for exactly the same period of protection and for exactly the same time of lock-releasing action, then the four push lugs 25 of the four clock-actuated bars 2% will actsimultaneously or in unison on the common indicator. The important point is that, if the several clocks are not set for the same period of protection than the clock set for the earliest lock-releasing action will be come the controlling unit and the common indicator will indicate the time in advance wnen it will perform its lock-releasing action and, the vault door will be-unlocked or released by unlocking action thereby,

The hand-set rheostat 43 is used to adjust the circuit resistance so that the main clockcontrolled rheostat will be set for operation according to the indication produced on the common time-of-release indicator or modified ammeter.

IVhat we claim is:

1. In time clock mechanism, a plurality of lock-controlling clocks arranged'for application within a vault, a time-0f-release indi-, cator arranged for application outside of the vault for continuously indicating the length of time remaining before release, and means whereby said indicator will be operated by the clock set for earliest lock-releasing action. I

2. In time lock mechanism, a plurality of independently operating lock-controlling clocks arranged for application within a vault, a common electrically actuated timeof-release indicator arranged for application outside of the vault, electrical actuating connections to said indicator including a rheostat, and means whereby said rheostat will be adjusted and said indicator actuated vby the clock set for earliest lock-releasing action.

3. In time lock mechanism, a plurality of independent lock-controlling clocks arranged for application within a vault and equipped with dials for time indication and with driving elements timed in respect thereto, driven elements moved by said driving elements and having normally aligned driving surfaces, a common electrically actuated timeof-release indicator arranged for application outside of the vault, electrical actuating connections for said indicator including a rheostat, and a carrier for the movable element of said rheostat arranged to be moved by any one of said driving surfaces, operating either individually or collectively, the said parts being thus arranged so that said indicator will be operated by the clock set for earliest lock-releasing action.

'4. In time lock mechanism, a plurality of independent lock-controlling clocks arranged for application within a vault and equipped with dials for time indication and with driving gears timedin respect thereto, toothed sliding bars independently subject to the driving gears of the several clocks, said bars having normally aligned driving projections, a common electrically actuated timeoit-release indicator arranged for application outside of the vault, electrical actuating connections for said indicator including a rheostat having sliding contact, and a springretracted plunger carrying said movable rheostat contact and subject to all of the driving projections of the several bars, the said parts being thus arranged so that said indicator will be operated by the clock set for the earliest clock-releasing action.

5. The structure defined in claim 1 combined with a vault and in which said common tiine-of-release indicator is at the exterior of the interior of the vault.

6. The structure defined in claim 2 combined with avault having a swinging door, said time-of-release indicator being on the outer side of the door and the other parts indicated being on the inner sideofthe door.

7. The structure defined in claim 8 com bined witlra vault having a swinging door, said common t-ime-ot-release indicator being on the exterior of the vault, the other parts noted being on the inner side of the door.

In testimony whereof we ai fix our signatures. I

THOMAS C. ADAMS. HAROLD A. NOYES. EDWVARD G. LAXVRENGE 

